Silicon valley exec: innovation isn't magic'.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: Globel Defence

As the Pentagon continues its push to reach out to high-tech companies around the country, one Silicon Valley executive said the government must be careful to not treat innovation as if it were a magic pill.

Air Force reservist Karen Courington, manager of product data operations at Facebook, said Defense Department Secretary Ashton Carter's efforts to court Silicon Valley companies are important. "A lot of people are noticing and I think there's a lot of energy there."

However, "innovation isn't magic," she said during a March panel discussion at the New America Foundation's Future of War conference in Washington, D.C "I sometimes feel like the department is treating it as such."

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When Pentagon officials come to Silicon Valley looking for new technology, they need to be specific about what is needed, she noted. "I think what we run the risk of, coming from Washington out to a place like Silicon Valley, is saying, 'We're looking for new tech' and people are kind of like, Well, as a means to what?"' she said. Even referring to the Pentagon's much hyped "third offset" strategy--a plan to maintain the United States' military overmatch through investments in emerging technology such as autonomy--isn't specific enough, she said. "If you say 'third offset,' unfortunately, that might fall flat."

Last year, Carter established the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental as a way to better tap into the work being done in...